Ken Roberts
For The New Era
After the Huskies’ Oct. 16 loss at Newport, Coach Rob Younger talked about how the Sweet Home athletes were going to have to step up and make big plays.
That is exactly what the Huskies did Friday as they stung Taft 43-14 for their first league victory on Homecoming night.
On defense, Sweet Home put pressure on Tigers quarterback John Wilkinson, which led to four sacks and three interceptions. On offense, the Huskies scored three touchdowns of over 40 yards. On special teams, they consistently started in great field position and sacked the Taft punter after a bad snap.
“We still bent quite a bit on defense, but we made big plays when we had to,” Younger noted. “We were playing to win. It felt good that the kids had some success.”
Both teams opened the night by losing the ball on a turnover. On its second possession though, Sweet Home made the first of its big plays. Amos Parmenter, on just his second carry of the night, broke tackles and raced for 42 yards to put the Huskies on the scoreboard first. Parmenter added a two-point conversion after a Philomath penalty on the ensuing extra-point kick attempt.
Taft kept the game close for a while, tying up the score in the second quarter with a ten yard Wilkinson to Thomas Lovejoy pass to finish off an 85 yard drive.
Parmenter returned the ensuing short kickoff 25 yards into Taft territory at the 42.
Parmenter, who led the Huskies with 123 yards in 16 carries, scored the second of his three first-half touchdowns on a one-yard plunge.
Parmenter scored his next touchdown after Zane Wise tackled the Tiger punter for a 20- yard loss on a bad snap, which put the Huskies at the Taft 20. Keenan Martin, who shared the quarterback duties with Ryan Graville, passed to Josh Riggs for the first 18 yards and then Parmenter completed the work.
The two quarterbacks combined for a two-point conversion with Martin throwing to Graville, which gave Sweet Home a 22-7 halftime lead.
It didn’t take long for the Huskies to explode in the second half. Brent Moyer returned a kick into Taft territory at the 47. Then Martin connected with Kevin McGuyre on the very first play, the first of two times that combination would click for long scores.
Taft responded using a balanced running and passing attack for a drive of 73 yards that culminated with a six-yard Wilkinson run for a score. After the Huskies went three plays and out on their next possession, Taft appeared to gain momentum with another drive into Husky territory. But Graville put a damper on any Tiger hopes with his second interception of the night.
“The defensive line and linebackers kept putting pressure on their quarterback,” said Graville. “They flushed him out of the pocket until he just threw it and I was able to step in front of the receiver.”
Graville and Parmenter had runs of 21 and 12 yards before Martin entered the game and threw another bomb to McGuyre, this time from 48 yards out, to seal the deal.
Taft was forced to throw the ball at that point in the game and McGuyre picked up the Huskies’ third interception. McGuyre also caught a 28-yard pass from Graville that set up the final Sweet Home touchdown, a five-yard run by Moyer, his first score of the year.
“We weren’t as uptight, just more relaxed,” said Graville. “We just each thought about the job we had to do and knew we would get help if we needed it.”
The Huskies had a balanced attack with 226 yards on the ground and 179 in the air, the second largest amount of passing yards in a game this year.
Next week, the Central Panthers, the number one team in the state, rolls into town.
No one except Marist, whom the Panthers beat by two touchdowns in the first game of the year, has come close to stopping Central, which averages over 52 points a game.
“It’s a great challenge, kind of like David and Goliath,” stated Younger, who plans on adding a few wrinkles to the game plan. “We have to have a great game and attack as if we are going to win. We have to believe in ourselves.”
Game Summary
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
Sweet Home 8 14 14 7 43
Taft 0 7 7 0 14
1st Quarter
SH: Amos Parmenter 42 yd. run (Parmenter run)
2nd Quarter
Taft: John Wilkinson to Thomas Lovejoy 10 yd. pass (Ricky Nand kick)
SH: Parmenter 1 yd. run (kick failed)
SH: Parmenter 2 yd. run (Keenan Martin to Ryan Graville pass)
3rd Quarter
SH: Martin to Kevin McGuyre 47 yd. pass (Marc Callagan kick)
Taft: Wilkinson 6 yd. run (Nand kick)
SH: Martin to Kevin McGuyre 48 yd. pass (Callagan kick)
4th Quarter
SH: Brent Moyer 5 yd. run (Callagan kick)
Team Statistics
Rushing: Sweet Home 36-226; Taft 35-183
Passing: Sweet Home 7-14, 179; Taft 13-35-3, 169
Sacked: SH None Taft 5-38
Total Offense: Sweet Home 405; Taft 314
First Downs: Sweet Home 15; Taft 21
Tackles for Losses: Sweet Home 6; Taft 2
3rd/4th Down Conversions: Sweet Home 4-11; Taft 7-17
Penalties: SH 4-40; Taft 5-37
Turnovers: SH 1 (fumble); Taft 3 (interceptions)
Individual Statistics
Rushing: SH: Parmenter 16-123; Ward 8-37; Graville 1-21; Moyer 2-14; Byers 2-11; Erickson 1-8; Sorenson 2-6 Jackson 1-5; Walters 2-3; McDowell 1-(-2)
Taft: Wilkinson 10-64; Whitaker 11-58; Riebe 13-44
Passing: SH: Martin 3-6, 113: Graville 4-8, 66
Taft: Wilkinson 13-34-3, 169
Receiving: SH: McGuyre 2-40; Riggs 3-70; Cota 1-11
Taft: Case 4-74
Kickoffs: SH: Callagan 7-307 (76 returned); avg. start line: 27
Taft: 3-82 (62 returned); avg. start line: 53.3
Kick Returns: SH: Parmenter 2-44; Moyer 1-18
Taft 7-76
Punts: SH: Parmenter 1-20; Taft 1-25
Punt Returns: SH: McGuyre 1-0
Interceptions: SH 3 (Graville 2, McGuyre 1); Taft 0
Fumble Recoveries: Taft 1
Sacks: SH 5 (Rowe 1.5, Wise, Potter, Keeney 0.5, Riggs 0.5, Marchbanks 0.5)
Leading Tacklers: SH: Parmenter, Erickson, Moyer